The present invention is concerned with multi-level stacking containers of the type typically employed for transporting and delivering bakery products. Containers of this type are conventionally designed to be stacked on upon the other in a stable stack in either of a high-level stacking relationship to avoid crushing of bakery products in the underlying containers or in a low-level stacking arrangement in which empty containers are nested to a greater or lesser degree within each other to minimize stack height when the empty containers are being returned to or stored at the bakery.
Two primary approaches to designs of containers which possess this high-level, low-level stacking capability are respectively shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,481,507 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,093,070.
The container of U.S. Pat. No. 3,481,507 is constructed with side and end walls of uniform height. The opposite end walls of this container have complementary configuration such that when two of the containers are stacked with a first end wall of one container nested within the corresponding first end wall of the underlying container, the upper container is supported in a low-level stacked position. When the orientation of the upper container is shifted 180.degree. so that the first end wall of the upper container overlies the second or opposite end wall of the lower container, the side and end walls of the two containers rest upon each other in a high-level stacked relationship.
The container of U.S. Pat. No. 4,093,070 is constructed with end walls which are substantially higher than the side walls of the container. When two of these containers are stacked with the end walls of the upper container resting on the end walls of the lower container, the containers are in a high-stacked position. When the upper container is displaced 90.degree. so that its end walls are parallel to the side walls of the lower container, the bottom of the upper container is stacked upon the lowered side walls of the underlying container to establish the low-level stacked relationship.
This last container possesses the advantage of being of a simplified construction, as compared to the container of U.S. Pat. No. 3,481,507 and can be stacked in the high-level stacked relationship without regard to orientation of the end walls which are of identical construction in the container of U.S. Pat. No. 4,093,070. The disadvantage of the container of U.S. Pat. No. 4,093,070 is that it cannot nest as deeply into the lower container when in the low-level stacked relationship as can containers of the type of U.S. Pat. No. 3,481,507.
Although the width, length and height of both of the foregoing types of containers are generally standardized for various applications, such as to hold one dozen loaves of bread, concurrent usage of the two types of containers described above is normally not feasible. Nesting or interlocking the unlike containers in any sort of a low-level stacking relationship usually is not possible.
The present invention is especially directed to a container of the generic type of U.S. Pat. No. 3,481,507 which can be stacked with containers of the type of U.S. Pat. No. 4,093,070 in both stable high and low-level stacked relationship.